Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-05-19
hev could reach the side OF his yes

The Americans bore down on him
with u long. steady pull at their oars
the Mosquito veering off little from
the Gallinipper, so that the threatened
discharge of grape might rake only one
of them. The piI@tical schooner lay
in seven or eight feet of water and only
few hundred yards off the shore.
The Gallinipper, on her after quar-
ter. had approached within musket-
shot, when Diablito, training his nine
FOUNDER full on the barge, discharged
it. But the grape merely cut away
some of the oars and wounded two men
slightly. The progress of the barge
was not even arrested for moment.
With Il ringing cheer the men-of-war' s
men dashed forward, and the smoke of
cannon rising, the astOnished freeboot-
ers beheld the barge darling up under
the schoOner's stern. Seized with
panic, though outnumbering the Amer
leans two to one, they did not wait
even to strike a single blow in defense
of their ship, but leaped overheard like
a flock of sheep and made for the shore.
The marines from the Gallinipper
jumped aboard and captured the
schooner without resistance; while the
Mosquito, pulling rapidly amongst the
fugitives in the water, cut them to
pieces indiscriminately. About forty
of the crew of sixty were killed, and
others reached the shore and escaped
into the woods. Among the killed was
Diablito himself, who, while swimming
for the shore, was recognized by the
Spanish pilot of the Mosquito and shot.
The Greyhound and Beagle then
went cruising on the south coast of
Cuba, through the Jardines and about
the Isle of Pines, but found no ''sport'
until they were in the vicinity of Cape
Cruz. This region was reported to be
Il famous haunt of the pirates, but not
a trace of human presence was to be
seen from the water. The shore was
wooded and seemed to be a mere jungle
of thorny chaparral.
The two War-ships anchored within a
few hundred yards of the beach, and Il
boat, under command of Lieutenant
Newton, of the Beagle, went ashore to
look about, as much in the hope of
shooting game as of finding pirates,
since the place appeared to be unin-
habited. The men were armed as
usual and they had proceeded but a
few steps into the woods when man
was observed watching their move
ments from cover of a thicket. He at
once disappeared, and, with wise eau
ton, the men were straightway ordered
back to the boat. Hardly had they
fol Mo Nx-hn of
musketry was discharged at them from
the brush. The fire was returned, but
with what effect could not be deter
mined, for none of the concealed fusi
leers showed themselves; and the num-
bers of the enemy being unknown, the
boat was ordered back to the Beagle.
Night being now at hand, no imme-
diate attempt was made TO dislodge the
hidden musketeers. But at three
o'clock the next morning Lieutenant
Farragut was ordered to land with a
force of seventeen marines from the
Greyhound, and drive the pirates
there was no doubt rs to their charac-
ter-out of their lurking-places. The
two schooners, meantime, were to warp
as close to the shore rs possible, and
protect the attacking party against any
possible rush of the enemy in over
whelming numbers.
at was about as uncertain an errand
as 1 ever set out on" the Admiral used
to remark, ''for it was still dark, and
we had not the least notion of the char
acter of the country inshore, nor yet
in what numbers we might unearth the
rogues. But as to the nature of the
footing we were not long left in doubt.
In all my life 1 had never seen such
walking. The chaparral was one jun
gle of thorn brush, which tore our cloth
ing to pieces and scratched our flesh at
every step. The only way we were
able to make any progress whatever
was 10 cut the brush down with our
cutlasses. We had literally hewed our
way into it for several hundred PAGES,
when we came upon a lagoon, or arm
of the sea, too deep to ford, though it
was not more than thirty or forty yards
in width. We skirted the lagoon for
some distance, and at length came out
to the mouth of it, where it Joined the
sea.
Thus we had accomplished nothing.
and were back at the beach again, and
rs if happened, narrowly escaped be-
ing fired on by the Greyhound. For
from our appearing in this unexpected
place, they at first mistook us for a
party of pirates trying to cut us off
from TIE water. Fortunately, just as
they were about to give us a charge of
grape, the Captain caught sight of the
glisten of my epaulette in the semi
obscurity, and hastily countermanded
the order. He then hailed us. and on
learning of the state of affairs, sent off
the boat to put us across the lagoon.
"Once on the other side. we started